The writer/director had much to say about the upcoming remake of his most famous work, Hellraiser. Firstly, he commented on the addition of another writer/director, Pascal Laugier (nominated for a Cyber Horror Award for his work on Martyrs), who replaced Alexandre Bustillo & Julien Maury of Inside fame:

"I fuckin' love Martyrs... it's a movie that has courage and commitment. [Pascal] is someone who really, really cares about horror movies. I'm supposed to be seeing a treatment soon. I'm not certain, but I believe he is going to back to the first movie, but not with an obsessed loyalty. He's taking the first movie as a launching board, a rock model, but there are things you can obviously do now both visually and sexually... It's a different time, so I'm excited."

Conversely, when the topic switched to the controversial redesign of lead cenobite Pinhead that surfaced on the web a few days ago, Barker was a little less enthusiastic/complimentary:

"The whole point about Pinhead is that he is geometrically severe. Very measured, and the energy of the character comes out of the fact that you have surgical precision which is part of a much larger, sadistic, maybe masochistic, design. Turning the bloodless cuts or scarifications into bloody, irregular gashes removes the point of what made the character interesting in the first place."

Ironically, the new design was created by Gary Tunnicliffe, makeup artist for the sequels to the original Hellraiser.

10 comments:

Hey B-Sol--It's worth noting in your post that that redesign isn't in any way official--it was just Fango asking this guy what he would do if the redesign were up to him, but it isn't. That's why even a big Barker fan like me refrained from posting about it--it's kinda neat, but it confuses the issue.

I wasn't big on that new look for Pinhead myself but seeing as how it was just one persons idea as to how it could be done I held out hope that they'd stick with the original design. Pinhead is badass, I don't see the need to change the look.

Damn, I really need to see Martyrs though. I think the writers of Inside would've done a great job as well since I really enjoyed that film as well.

I saw this on BD.com and at first thought the same thing, that they're looking to redesign Pinhead. I found out that the original designer did it on his own. I pray they don't do it! Barker is correct in the importance of Pinhead's original design. I will be F'ing pissed if it happens... I just don't think it will. Good post Brian!

Hey B-Sol. Glad the new design isn't certain. I don't like it. But I don't like the idea of a remake either.

By the way, Carpenter's The Thing was on Sc-Fi this weekend, and as per usual, I had to watch it, had to. I so dig the tension between the characters, the interplay of trust, distrust, anger, and fear.

B-Sol. I know. I'll never forgive myself. The original was released into a perfect social and cultural climate. As in, begging for a rape revenge movie. The original was scary, gritty, uncomfortable, disturbing, satisfying. What can the remake say now, in our current cultural climate, that will be as profound? I'm not sure.

Which horror film *should* be remade?

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I've been fascinated with horror ever since my parents let me watch The Exorcist at 8 years old (what were they thinking??) and I ran up to my bed screaming when Linda Blair's eyes rolled into the back of her head.Although it often gets a bad rap from "mainstream" critics and audiences alike, horror has often been the most creative and vibrant movie genre of all, from Nosferatu to Saw. Some of the finest motion pictures ever made are part of the horror genre, including Frankenstein, Psycho, The Shining and my personal all-time favorite, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead.This blog is the culmination of my 25-year love affair with all things blood and guts--so check back here often for news and opinion on the world of horror. And remember...